A conventional semiconductor memory apparatus with a spare memory cell array includes a faulty address detecting circuit having a circuit for storing a faulty address which is an address of a faulty memory cell, and a circuit for comparing the faulty address and an address signal. In this faulty address detecting circuit, the faulty address is stored in the storing circuit in accordance with the cutting-off of a fuse by radiating laser light beam to the fuse. Thus, a supplied address signal is compared in the comparing circuit with the stored faulty address. In this address comparison, when the address signal is coincided with the stored faulty address, a control signal is supplied from the faulty address detecting circuit to an address signal decoder, by which a row of a normal memory cell array having the faulty address is prohibited to be selected, and a row is selected from the spare memory cell array for replacement of the faulty address of the normal memory cell array. Thus, yield is increased in fabricating a semiconductor memory apparatus.
However, the conventional semiconductor memory apparatus with a spare memory cell array has a disadvantage in that a test for a memory cell array must be carried out twice, because the normal memory cell array is tested at first, and the spare memory cell array is then tested. As a result, a time for test of a memory cell array becomes long to increase a fabricating cost.